'Kidnapped' or 'Kidnaped'?

[Satchmo Distel]

I have been researching the Lindbergh kidnapping case and was curious to discover that all the 1930s sources I saw use the spelling 'kidnaped' and 'kidnaping'. One of many examples:

http://files.mom.me/photos/2013/01/18/6-30938-3_lindbergh-baby-1358480075.jpg

When did this usage change to a double 'p' and are there similar examples of fairly recent spelling changes (i.e. less than 100 years)?

[Diable Rouge]

'Kidnapped' or 'Kidnaped'?

Appears to be an Americanism.

[beak]

'Kidnapped' or 'Kidnaped'?

satchmo76 wrote: When did this usage change to a double 'p'

going by Google ngrams, never.

[beak]

'Kidnapped' or 'Kidnaped'?

(does have a surge in the single 'p' use around the time yr interested in, tho.)

[Fussbudget]

'Kidnapped' or 'Kidnaped'?

'Kidnaped' looks like it would be pronounced completely differently.

[Benjm]

'Kidnapped' or 'Kidnaped'?

Robert Louis Stevenson went with a double P in 1886, as did his American publishers.

[3 Colours Red]

'Kidnapped' or 'Kidnaped'?

Kidnaped - to hold a baby goat by the back of its neck.

[WOM]

'Kidnapped' or 'Kidnaped'?

Wait...researching out of curiosity, or for some book or academic endeavour or what?

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

'Kidnapped' or 'Kidnaped'?

Hopefully not to pick up tips...

[Satchmo Distel]

'Kidnapped' or 'Kidnaped'?

I am writing an academic paper on lynching, a crime that usually involved the kidnapping of the victim. The Lindbergh case is important because it led to a change in the kidnapping law that could have been used by the federal government to punish lynching, over-riding the unwillingness of Southern states to punish lynchers.

[Incandenza]

'Kidnapped' or 'Kidnaped'?

Interesting.

There was an incident in Los Angeles in the early 1960s, before the Watts Riots. African American kids were at a carousel at Griffith Park, part of a big picnic that was being held nearby. It's unclear whether the kids were being rowdy or other people in the park just felt scared, but the LAPD were called in, and the situation escalated (interestingly, some of the kids who were riding the carousel without paying supposedly said "we're Freedom Riders!"). The kids all tried to run away, but one kid was put in the back of a police car. Two of his friends managed to open the door and get him out.

Because they had taken a prisoner from police custody, the other kids were charged with lynching--African American kids charged with lynching because they freed one of their friends. They weren't convicted of it, but were sentenced on other counts.